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Coastal Storytellers Spin Fish House Tales and Other Whoppers

2003

Jun 13, 2014

Southern Flounder: A Hot Candidate for Aquaculture

Sea Grant researchers at North Carolina State University are turning up the heat on Southern flounder to produce all-female cultured stocks. The controlled-breeding method relies on water temperature manipulation during the flounder's early development — not on genetic engineering.

Dec 15, 2003

People & Places: Take a Glimpse Into Sound Country Holiday Traditions

After Rosa Hernandez moved from Mexico to the Sound Country community of Columbia, she became homesick for the Hispanic holiday homage to Mary and Joseph.
A hand holding a bundle of mussels of an invasive species.

Dec 15, 2003

Ballast Water Battles

It is likely how the zebra mussel, a fingernail-sized mollusk from the Black, Caspian and Azov seas entered the Great Lakes in the late 1980s. Since their introduction, zebra mussels have spread rapidly to all of the Great Lakes and to waterways in many states, as well as the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Growing in dense clumps, the mussels can encrust and foul facilities at power plants, fish ladders and industrial sites. To date, natural resource managers have been powerless to stop the mussels' spread.
Anglers and visitors enjoy the activities at the Surf City pier.

Dec 1, 2003

Beyond the Boundaries: Indonesian Officials Take Home Coastal Lessons

Surf City on Topsail Island is a long way from the beaches of Bali, or any of the 17,500 islands that make up Indonesia. But lessons learned along the North Carolina coast will factor in discussions this year in Indonesia, where pivotal coastal legislation is being considered.
image: Green sea turtle. Credit: Ali Bayless / NOAA Fisheries.

Dec 1, 2003

Sea Turtles by Satellite

Since September, McClellan, research specialist with the Duke University Marine Lab in Beaufort, and colleague Waples, have been meeting pound netters in the Pamlico Sound at unseemly hours hoping to find what many dread — sea turtles in fishing nets.
image: Core Banks.

Dec 1, 2003

Core Banks Cottages Rich in History, Tradition

As soon as Wilson Davis pulls up in his boat to the shoreline near his wooden cottage on Core Banks, he steps back to a "different way of life."

Oct 1, 2003

Naturalist’s Notebook: Knowing Beans About the Beach

These little ocean-going envoys are called sea beans, and though many of them really are beans, they do not come from the sea itself. They are seeds fom tropical vines, plants and trees that grow in faraway rain forests. They fall into the streams and rivers of the lower latitudes, and the water carries them to the oceans. There, sea beans can float with the currents for hundreds or thousands of miles, and for many months, sometimes years.
fishing boats

Oct 1, 2003

Habitat Protection Plans: Homeland Security for Fisheries

High above Earth, a passing satellite blinks in recognition of North Carolina's unique geography: A line of barrier islands protects the mainland from the ocean's energy, channeling its flow through narrow inlets. Behind the barriers, irregular shorelines define a system of shallow sounds, bays and tidal creeks that are intricately tied to the ocean's will. Mighty rivers appear as threads connecting mountains to piedmont to coastal plain.
image: blue land crab emerging from hole.

Oct 1, 2003

Blue Crab Lab: A Recipe for Survival

Before it lives up to its scientific name — Callinectes sapidus or tasty, beautiful swimmer — the blue crab goes through a couple of ugly larval stages. Fortunately, its survival doesn't depend on its being a beautiful baby.
Boats in a harbor Down East.

Oct 1, 2003

Coastal Storytellers Spin Fish House Tales and Other Whoppers

While standing in front of a fish house scene complete with rocking chairs, Rodney Kemp spins a whopper about a bolt of lightning turning North Carolina's only menhaden plant into a towering inferno.